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Panama

Panama is a country located in Central America. As of 2012, it had sent nearly 50 men to the major leagues, starting with Humberto Robinson in 1955. The most prominent Panamanian big-leaguers were Mariano Rivera and Rod Carew.

A 1952 feature in The Sporting News by Leo J. Eberenz, the paper's local columnist, provided a neat capsule history. Eberenz noted the following milestones:

1905: the country's first league, the Isthmian Canal Commission League, began play after the United States took over work on the Panama Canal.

Winter of 1917-18: Ray Caldwell (pitching under the name of Collins) became the first big-leaguer to come to Panama.

1918: First attempt to conduct baseball in an organized league. The three-team circuit folded after one season.

1926: Panama National League founded. One of its clubs was a team of Puerto Rican soldiers stationed in the Canal Zone.

Panama has also been the home of winter-league baseball. During the 1940s, two leagues co-existed: the Canal Zone League and, starting in 1946, the Panama Professional League, which superseded the Panama National League. The pennant-winners of each circuit played each other to crown the Isthmian champion.

When the Caribbean Series began in 1949, Panama was part of the four-nation competition, and remained in the tournament until it went on hiatus after the 1960 edition. It won once -- the second edition, in 1950 -- and hosted three times (1952, 1956 and 1960).

Winter ball continued in Panama through the early 1970s, but toward the end, the schedule became abbreviated. Panama was not part of the Caribbean Series when the tournament resumed in 1970.

In spring training 1971, the Pittsburgh Pirates played three exhibition games from March 12 through March 14 in Panama City. The opponent was a team of Panamanian All-Stars. Joe DiMaggio threw out the first ball. Some 38,000 fans turned out for the series. The Pirates' Panamanian catcher, Manny Sanguillen, went 5-for-11 with a homer in front of his hometown fans. Another native, Rennie Stennett -- then a 19-year-old Bucs farmhand -- also played well for the All-Stars.

In the winter of 2001-02, winter baseball came back to Panama after a dormant period of nearly 30 years. The revival lasted just one season, though.